JP5853890B2 - Software execution control device, execution control method, and execution control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a software execution control device, an execution control method, and an execution control program thereof. In particular, the present invention flexibly adapts to the work required by the user by controlling the execution of software stored in the user's computer system or software stored in an external computer system, for example, a server. The present invention relates to a software execution control apparatus and execution control method that can be used, and an execution control program thereof.

  There are restaurants of various sizes and forms, including small and medium self-employed and franchise. In order to operate such a variety of restaurants, it is necessary to carry out various types of business. Until now, software that is usually processed directly by people depending on the type of business or distributed in the city. We purchased and processed. For example, the store owner can acquire sales information by purchasing commercially available accounting software, installing it on his / her personal computer, inputting the sales information into the software and executing it. Recently, you can download application software (hereinafter also referred to as “application” or simply “application”), such as a personal computer, smartphone, tablet PC, etc., or use a web service by connecting to a web server. With the development and widespread use of various high-performance computing systems that can be used, various restaurant business applications are being actively developed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)

  A restaurant owner or employee performs a necessary job by inputting predetermined data of a specific type and format into a dedicated application for a specific job and executing the application. Store owners and employees may sometimes create applications by directly creating program code for the work they are trying to accomplish, but most software developers have developed dedicated applications or software developers Or, a commercial application already developed by a development company is purchased and used. If a business owner or employee wants to perform a task that is not supported by a single application, the store owner or employee will look for one or more additional applications that can perform the task and execute that application separately. Or do it directly yourself.

International Publication No. WO 91/08540 A1

  In the restaurant business, for example, various types of operations such as reservation management, book creation, and inventory management need to be performed, and such various operations often have to be linked to each other. However, in order to handle such various operations, it is quite difficult for shop owners to develop dedicated applications that meet their own requirements and circumstances. Even if you develop an application directly, if there is a change in the business process or details, you can change the program code of the application every time there is a change or develop a completely new application. There are also problems that must be addressed.

  When purchasing and using a commercial application developed by a software developer, it is not possible to add a function that the application does not provide or change the function or operation of the application. Therefore, when a new function is required, another application must be purchased, or a dedicated application including the necessary function must be developed. In many cases, one application does not support various functions required for the work to be performed. For additional functions not supported by one application, another application that supports this function must be executed, and the same data can be input to multiple applications or the format of the input data must be specified. There is an inconvenience that must be changed frequently. Furthermore, since it is necessary to directly search for an application that supports a necessary function, a lot of time is required, and if the necessary application cannot be found, the target operation itself may not be performed. Furthermore, there is a problem that an application developed for a specific business cannot process a business that was not planned at all.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. Specifically, the present invention relates to a software execution control device and an execution control method for controlling the execution of a plurality of software so that various types of operations necessary for a restaurant business can be processed quickly and conveniently. It is an object of the present invention to provide an execution control program. The application field of the present invention is not limited to restaurants, but there are restrictions on the industry as long as the technical idea of the present invention can be applied, such as hospitals, schools, bookstores, theaters, shopping centers, theme parks, etc. Note that there is no.

In order to solve the above-described problem, one aspect of the present invention refers to execution of a plurality of applications in a software execution control apparatus that controls execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user. Reference information management unit that collects and updates the reference information to be received, a user message input or transmitted from the user by a predetermined method, and one or more components from the received user message A user message pre-processing unit that interprets the user message based on the extracted components, and one or more requested by the user based on the items interpreted from the user message A message processing unit for identifying the action of the reference information, reference information managed by the reference information management unit, Containing, based on the action specified by the serial message processing unit, and selecting the application to be run in order to perform each of the actions specified above, the application executing unit for executing the selected application, the For example, the reference information management unit records one or more characteristics for each user in association with information selected from a set composed of priority and weight values of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Software execution control characterized in that a characteristic information database is constructed and operated, and the message processing unit specifies one or more actions corresponding to the user message with reference to the characteristic information database. Providing equipment.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software execution control method for controlling execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user using a software execution control device. Reference information management stage for collecting and updating reference information to be referred to for execution, receiving a user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method, and receiving one of the received user messages A user message pre-processing stage that extracts or extracts more components and interprets the user message based on the extracted components, and the user requests based on matters interpreted from the user message A message processing stage identifying one or more actions, the reference information, and the Based on the action specified in the message processing steps, were selected application to be run in order to perform each of the actions specified above, the application executing step of executing the selected application, only contains In the reference information management stage, one or more characteristics for each user and characteristics selected by associating information selected from a set composed of priority and weight values of a plurality of options for each characteristic are recorded. A software execution control method characterized in that an information database is constructed and operated, and the message processing step specifies one or more actions corresponding to the user message with reference to the characteristic information database. I will provide a.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a program for controlling a computer to execute a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user.
The reference information management unit that collects and updates reference information that is referred to for execution of a plurality of applications, receives a user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method, and receives the received message. One or more components are extracted from the user message, a user message pre-processing unit that interprets the user message based on the extracted component, based on matters interpreted from the user message, The message processing unit that specifies one or more actions requested by the user, the reference information managed by the reference information management unit, and the identification specified based on the action specified by the message processing unit Application to be executed to carry out each action And another, a program to function as the application execution unit for executing the selected application, the reference information management unit, apart from the one or more characteristics's use in multiple for each characteristic Build and operate a characteristic information database in which information selected from a set composed of priorities and weights is recorded in association with each other, and the message processing unit refers to the characteristic information database and the user message A program characterized by specifying one or more actions corresponding to the above is provided.

  According to the present invention, an action flow that satisfies a job requested by a user is generated, one or a plurality of applications are selected according to the action flow, and execution of the selected applications is controlled quickly. In addition, it is possible to provide a software execution control apparatus, an execution control method, and an execution control program that can efficiently and efficiently handle various tasks requested by a user. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately develop a dedicated application for performing various operations constituting a complex business, and a plurality of applications can be combined in various ways to cope with various business required by the user.

1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a configuration of a software execution control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is drawing which shows notionally one Example of a structure of the user message pre-processing part of the software execution control apparatus of this invention, a message processing part, an application execution part, and a reference information management part. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a software execution control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating a structured user message according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating an entity structure table of a structured user message according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating a command word structure table of a structured user message according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a regular message database according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a restaurant system for a typical message database illustrated in FIG. 7. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an action request synonym database according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a corresponding work database according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a corresponding work-action database according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a candidate action list for each component of a user message according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a characteristic information database according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating a user message candidate action flow list according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an action-application database according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an application specifying method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an application procedure database according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a relationship between input and output data between applications in an application execution process according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a restaurant summary and order management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Of course, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a configuration of a software execution control apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a software execution control device 100 of the present invention includes a central processing unit CPU 102, a basic input / output system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) 104, data Including a storage device 106 such as a hard disk or CD-ROM for storing files and files, and a memory 108, and managing various hardware and data 110 such as a USB, power supply device, display device, etc. in association with each other Database 112 to be included. The software execution control device 100 of the present invention includes software 120 such as a programming interface, various drivers, and a library, and an operating system (OS) 122. The software execution control apparatus 100 according to the present invention also includes a user message pre-processing unit 200 for structuring and interpreting a user message received from the user, and a user request from the user message. A message processing unit 300 that generates an action flow that identifies an operation or operation that satisfies a user's request, an application corresponding to the action flow, an application execution unit 400 that controls execution of the selected application, and a plurality of It further includes a reference information management unit 500 that collects and updates reference information referred to for execution of the application. The above components are interconnected by a bus 140. FIG. 1 is only an example of the configuration of the software execution control apparatus 100 of the present invention. Depending on the embodiment, some of the above components may be included, or other components may be included. be able to.

  The software execution control apparatus 100 includes not only typical computer systems such as mainframes, microcomputers, workstations, and personal computers, but also handheld devices having computing power such as tablets, PDAs, and smartphones. There is no particular restriction on the software architecture such as the hardware form, structure, and operating system of the software execution control apparatus 100. For example, the software execution control device 100 is a POS (Point of Sale) terminal device. Each of the above components 200 to 500 is embodied as pure software that can be recorded on suitable hardware such as ROM (ROM), flash memory, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD, or logic circuit It can also be embodied as a combination of hardware and software. In addition, the components 200 to 500 may be implemented in a single device, but may be implemented in a plurality of devices. For example, some or all of the components 200 to 500 may be stored in an external server connected via a network.

  When the components 200 to 500 are implemented as software, they can be implemented by object-oriented programming using a language such as Objective C, C ++, Java (registered trademark), or the like. Alternatively, it may be realized by procedural programming using a language such as BASIC or C. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the components 200 to 500 are implemented independently from the hardware such as the CPU 102 and the OS 122. However, the components 200 to 500 may be implemented as a part of the OS 122 or as an application depending on design choices. You can also. That is, a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can clearly understand that there is no limitation on the implementation method of the technical idea of the present invention. The detailed configuration and operation of the components 200-500 will be described in detail throughout the present specification and more particularly below.

  Various business applications may be stored in the memory 108 or the storage device 106 of the software execution control apparatus 100, or may be stored in independent computer systems 150a and 150b such as external servers (for example, web servers). it can. In this specification, the term “application” (or the abbreviation “application”) can indicate not only individual application software but also a part of software that performs an independent function. In addition to an application installed on a terminal device and executed independently, the application can be implemented in various forms such as a servlet, an applet, a widget, and a web service. In other words, there are no special restrictions on the application form or implementation method. Each application generates an output having a specific format independently or in cooperation with other applications. When the application is stored in the software execution control apparatus 100, it can be called based on position information defined as a specific folder in a specific directory. When the application exists in the external computer system 150a or 150b, it can be called or searched based on location information such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

  The user message pre-processor 200 identifies the formal part from the user message and structures the user message to extract one or more user message components, the structured user message The message is interpreted to determine whether the user message is a regular message or an atypical message. The components of the above user message are words that indicate independent information, command words that specify specific actions and operations according to the contents, and meaning contents (human, thing, incident, Can be classified as an entity that is a place, time, etc.). The fixed message includes a predetermined content and a number of command words, and a predetermined kind, type, and number of entities. If the user message is a regular message, the message processing unit 300 reads an action flow corresponding to the regular message with reference to a database in which the regular message and the action flow are recorded in association with each other. If the user message is not a regular message, the message processing unit 300 investigates the request for the user message, and a series or parallel combination of operations and operations that satisfy the determined request, that is, , Generate an action flow. The action flow defines the execution point of the action to be executed and the order of the execution order, that is, the execution timing. The application execution unit 400 selects an application corresponding to each action included in the action flow generated by the message processing unit, and causes the selected application to be executed. Further, it converts the type and / or format of data input to each application, and generates a control signal for controlling the execution of each application. Note that the application execution unit can selectively generate output to be provided to the user or a recipient determined based on the user message by combining the output data of the executed application. The reference information management unit 500 constructs and operates various types of reference information that the message processing unit 300 and the application execution unit 400 refer to. The reference information management unit 500 receives related information from the system designer, system administrator, user, etc., and collects and classifies such information regularly or from time to time. Reference information can be updated.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the user message preprocessing unit 200, the message processing unit 300, the application execution unit 400, and the reference information management unit 500 of the software execution control apparatus of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, each of the user message pre-processing unit 200, the message processing unit 300, the application execution unit 400, and the reference information management unit 500 includes a plurality of modules that execute the above-described operations. Embodied to include. A person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can have various implementation methods different from those shown in FIG. 2, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited by the width of the functional configuration of each module. I can clearly understand that there is no.

  The user message pre-processing unit 200 includes a user message receiving module 202, a user message structuring module 204, and a user message interpretation module 206. When the user inputs a user message with a content requesting execution of a predetermined job to the software execution control apparatus 100, the software execution control apparatus 100 starts operation. When a user message from a user is input or transmitted by a predetermined method, the user message is received by the user message receiving module 202. The user message can be input through an input device (not shown) such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a microphone that is wired or wirelessly connected to the software execution control device 100. If the software execution control apparatus 100 includes a display device, a graphical user interface may be provided through the display device so that a user can input the user message through an input device such as a mouse. In this case, a method of clicking an icon indicating a specific task displayed on the display device with a mouse is also possible. If a voice command is input through the microphone, the user message receiving module 202 converts the voice command into text and transmits it to the user message structuring module 204. The software execution control apparatus 100 can also receive a user request in the form of an e-mail, a mobile phone message, or the like from an external communication device. Therefore, the software execution control apparatus 100 can have unique identification information such as an e-mail address and a telephone number specified in advance. For example, in order to request the software execution control device 100 to perform a specific task, the user uses his / her mobile phone separate from the software execution control device 100 to send a mail designated in advance to the software execution control device 100. An email can be sent to the address. In this case, the user can request a necessary job from the software execution control device 100 even when the user is far away from the software execution device 100, which is very convenient.

  For convenience, the user message can be created in natural language, which is the language that the user uses on a daily basis. The user does not need to specifically know which application should be executed to perform a specific task, what type or format of input of one or more applications to be executed, etc. The above work can be described in natural language. For example, it is assumed that the software execution control device 100 is a POS terminal device installed in a restaurant and the user is a store owner who operates the restaurant. If the user is outside the restaurant for personal service and wants to know the current day's sales, send an e-mail or mobile phone message saying "Please let me know today's sales" on my mobile phone What is necessary is just to transmit to a POS terminal device. In this case, as will be described later, the POS terminal device processes the user message to identify the necessary application, and causes the identified application to be executed. Next, the sales data of the day obtained as a result of the execution is generated in a suitable form (for example, a text file) and transmitted to the user's mobile phone as an e-mail or a mobile phone message. Thus, the convenience can be improved by diversifying the method of inputting the user message.

  The user message structuring module 204 extracts meaningful data (for example, the sender's identity, transmission date / time, transmission location, etc.) and message text included in the user message received by the user message receiving module 202. To do. Next, for example, morpheme analysis is applied to the user message (particularly, the content part of the text other than the formal information) to separate the user message into morphemes that are the smallest meaningful units. Morphological analysis methods vary depending on language characteristics, and various types of analysis techniques exist for each language. Which morphological analysis method is adopted is a choice of the system designer, and a specific method is not necessarily adopted. Subsequently, the user message structuring module 204 structures the user message by giving a semantic cover to each morpheme of the user message. For example, an ontology mapping technique is used to give a semantic cover to the morpheme. For example, “5 o'clock” is given a time, and “XX company” is given a company cover. Further, the user message structuring module 204 defines the overall meaning of the user message by structuring the user message according to, for example, the six rules (5W1H).

  For example, when the user sends his / her message in the form of an e-mail, the user message structuring module 204 uses the e-mail address of the sender from the e-mail received by the user message receiving module 202. The message body and the like can be identified, and it can be determined from the identified e-mail address who the user is and who is authorized to access the software execution control device 100. For this purpose, it is desirable to construct a user database in which identification information such as an identifier (ID), an e-mail address, and a mobile phone number is recorded in advance for each user. If a person who does not have access authority to the software execution control apparatus 100 transmits a user message, the operation is terminated. In this case, the software execution control apparatus 100 can also send a message notifying the sender, the system administrator, or a person selected among authorized users to that effect. On the other hand, if the user has a legitimate authority, the message analysis as described above proceeds to investigate the user's request content more accurately.

  Next, the user message structuring module 204 obtains an entity and an instruction word that are one or more user message components (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “components”) from the structured user message. Extract. For example, when a user message is structured according to the six rules, a component corresponding to 5H is an entity, and a component corresponding to 1H is an instruction word. Typically, a user message can include components that are one or more command words. An example of a structured user message is shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 4, for example, the user message i of the user 1 includes the entities ENTi1, ENTi2 and ENTi3, and the command word COMMi1. A component that is an entity can be used as input data that is required when an application is subsequently executed.

  Next, the user message interpretation module 206 interprets the structured user message to determine whether the user message is a regular message. For this purpose, an entity structure table and a command structure table relating to the structured user message can be generated. The entity structure table identifies and stores the type and type for each entity, and the instruction word structure table identifies the contents of the instruction word and stores the number of each instruction word. As a result, it is possible to determine what kind of entity and what kind of instruction word the user message contains. A more detailed description regarding the interpretation of the user message will be described later with reference to FIGS. If the user message includes an entity of a predetermined type and type and a predetermined content and number of commands, this message is determined to be a fixed message. For this purpose, the structure of the standard message (type and type of entity, contents and number of commands) is recorded in the standard message database 510 as described later, and the structure of the user message currently input is recorded. And the structure of the regular message stored in the database, it can be determined whether the user message is a regular message. In particular, among the various tasks that can be requested by the user, for a job that is highly likely to be requested repeatedly, the fixed message database 510 stores the fixed structure of the user message corresponding to the job in advance. It is desirable to record it.

  Next, the message processing unit 300 generates an action flow for each of the user message determined to be a fixed message by the user message interpretation module 206 and the user message determined to be an atypical message. A typical message processing module 302 and an atypical message processing module 304 that perform processing are included. In this specification, as a work to be performed in order to satisfy a user's request, a minimum unit work or operation that can be distinguished from each other by its contents is called an “action”. . A task requested by a user through a specific message may be composed of one action, but is often composed of two or more actions combined in a certain order. A sequential or parallel combination of one or a plurality of actions constituting a business is called an “action flow”. The action flow further defines the execution timing (time of execution or execution order) of the action to be executed. Assuming an example of using the software execution control device 100 of the present invention in a restaurant, each of “reservation information registration”, “reservation information inquiry”, “reservation information deletion”, “reservation information change”, etc. corresponds to the action To do. Each such action can be performed by one application or part of an application. According to the present invention, since the action is defined as a minimum unit of work or action classified according to its contents, the same action can be repeatedly executed in response to one user message. For example, the action “Reservation Information Inquiry” can be executed only once to inquire about the reservation information for a specific customer at a specific sales floor on a specific day, but all customers for all sales floors on a specific day. The reservation information can be repeatedly executed over several times so as to be inquired collectively.

  As will be described later with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, the regular message database 510 records one or more regular messages in association with a predetermined action flow for each regular message. To do. By utilizing such a fixed message database 510, the fixed message processing module 302 allows the fixed message database 510 to read out the fixed message if there is a user message that is interpreted as a fixed message at the time of execution. The action flow corresponding to can be read out. If one user message contains two or more regular messages, the action flow corresponding to each regular message is combined in sequence or in parallel, and the final message for the user message is obtained. An action flow can be generated. Thus, when a standard message is input as a user message, an action flow can be generated quickly and easily by simply reading out information recorded in the database.

  On the other hand, the atypical message processing module 304 interprets an action corresponding to each component of the user message for a user message that is interpreted as not being a typical message, that is, a user message that is interpreted as an atypical message. And the selected actions are combined sequentially or in parallel to generate an action flow for processing the atypical user message. In order to select each action, an action request synonym database 520, a corresponding work database 530, a corresponding work-action database 540, and / or a characteristic information database 550 described later are referred to. The operation of the atypical message processing module 304 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 9 to 14.

  Next, the application execution unit 400 includes an application selection module 402 and an application execution control module 404, and may optionally include an output generation module 406 according to an embodiment. The application selection module 402 selects an application corresponding to each action in the action flow generated by the message processing unit 300. The application execution control module 404 causes a part or all of the selected applications to be executed. The application selection module 402 can select an application corresponding to each action with reference to an action-application database 560 described later. The action-application database 560 records identification information of an action, which is a unit work or operation (operation) performed independently, and identification information of an application necessary for performing the action in association with each other. As a result of referring to the action-application database 560, when there are a plurality of applications that perform one action, a more suitable application is selected with reference to the characteristic information database 550 described later. In order to execute the selected application, the application execution control module 404 refers to an application procedure database 570 to be described later, and generates a control signal necessary for executing the application. In addition, the application execution control module 404 refers to the application execution information database 580 and converts the type and format of data necessary for executing the application, if necessary.

  When the execution of all the selected applications is completed, the processing result is transmitted to the user or a recipient determined based on the user message. The processing result may be a part or all of output data of the last executed application or output data of all executed applications. This depends on the request contents of the user message. If necessary, the output data provided to a user or a specific recipient can be converted according to a predetermined type, format, or output method. Alternatively, the output generation module 406 generates a processing result by combining a part or all of the output data of all the executed applications, and uses the above-described type, format, or output method for the user or the specific receiver. Processing results can be provided. The output generation module 406 can divide a part or all of the output data into a plurality of outputs, or combine the plurality of output data into one or another number of outputs. The output type, format or output method suitable for the user or the specific recipient may be determined with reference to the characteristic information database 550.

  The reference information management unit 500 includes a fixed message database 510, an action request synonym database 520, a corresponding work database 530, a corresponding work-action database 540, a characteristic information database 550, an action-application database 560, an application A procedure database 570, an application execution information database 580, and a reference information operation module 590 are included. The structures of the databases 510 to 580 are shown in FIGS. 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 18, respectively. Detailed contents regarding each database will be described later with reference to the corresponding drawings. According to the present embodiment, all of the databases 510 to 580 are configured to be built in the reference information management unit 500 of the software execution control apparatus 100 of the present invention. However, if the person has ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, a part or all of the databases 510 to 580 should not necessarily be built in the software execution control system 100. For example, It is possible to clearly understand that a database already built in an external server can be used.

  The reference information operation module 590 constructs and updates the databases 520 to 580 as needed or periodically. The databases 520 to 580 can be constructed in advance before processing a user request, or can be constructed in real time when the processing is executed. Information recorded in the databases 520 to 580 can be changed, added, or deleted by a system designer, a system administrator, or a user with a legitimate authority. For this reason, the reference information operation module 590 A suitable interface can be provided. Note that the information recorded in the database may change over time, so the reference information operation module 590 updates the database periodically or at any time so that the database includes the changed information. As a result, it is possible to cope with the user's request more appropriately.

  For example, the reference information operation module 590 searches for a predetermined area inside or outside the software execution control apparatus 100 and collects information about the application periodically or as needed, or when an instruction is received from a system administrator or user. Then, based on the collected information, application identification information is registered in the action-application database 560 or the characteristic information database 550, and changes thereof are managed. The reference information operation module 590 detects changes such as whether there is a new application, whether location information of an existing application has changed, whether an application has been updated, or whether an application has been deleted. The reference information operation module 590 refers to this change content and updates the information recorded in the corresponding database. For example, when an application stored in the software execution control apparatus 100 is moved to a different folder, the reference information operation module 590 detects this and changes the position information of the application recorded in the action-application database 560. The updated location information is updated. At this time, if the same information is recorded in a plurality of databases, it is desirable to update the plurality of databases collectively. If there is an updated version of the application, the application information in the action-application database 560 is updated to the location information of the updated version.

  Next, a software execution control method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The process of the present invention is started by inputting, transmitting, or transmitting a user message requesting that the user perform a predetermined task to the software execution control apparatus 100 of the present invention (step 1000). The software execution control apparatus 100 receives the user message input, transmitted or transmitted by a predetermined method (step 1002), and structures the user message (step 1004). For example, when the user message is created in the form of a natural language, a morpheme analysis method is applied to the received user message, and a semantic cover is given to each morpheme. Next, the software execution control apparatus 100 extracts an entity and / or an instruction word as one or more components from the structured user message (step 1006). Next, in order to interpret the structured user message, the software execution control apparatus 100 identifies the contents and number of the extracted instruction words and the types and types of entities (step 1008). Based on the identified information, it is determined whether the user message is a regular message (step 1010). For this purpose, the regular message database 510 is referred to.

  If the user message is a regular message (step 1010: Yes), the action message recorded in correspondence with the regular message is read in the regular message database 510 to correspond to the user message. An action flow is generated (step 1020). If the user message is an atypical message (step 1010: No), the action request corresponding to the extracted component is selected in order to investigate the user request included in the user message. Then, an action that satisfies the selected action request is selected, and an action flow is generated by combining the selected actions sequentially or in parallel (step 1040). The generated action flow can be stored in a cache memory, a buffer, a queue, or the like. Thus, if an action flow is generated from the user message, an application for performing each action of the action flow is selected (step 1060). For this purpose, it is possible to refer to the action-application database 560 in which each action is recorded in association with an application that satisfies the action. If there are a plurality of applications corresponding to one action, for example, it is possible to refer to the characteristic information database 550 and select one application most suitable among them.

  Next, the software execution control apparatus 100 calls the selected application (step 2000). Each application can be called based on its location information. Next, for each application, the type and format of the input data required by the application are confirmed (step 2002). For this reason, it is possible to refer to the application execution information database 580 in which the identification information of each application is recorded in association with the type and format of the input data of the application. If the type and format of data to be input to the application matches the type and format of the input data of the application (step 2002: Yes), the data is input to the application as it is to execute the application (step 2006). If the type and format of data to be input does not match the type and format of the input data of the application (step 2002: No), the data type and format are converted according to the type and format of the input data. (Step 2004). Next, the software execution control apparatus 100 checks whether applications for all actions in the action flow have been executed (step 2008). If some of the applications to be executed have not yet been executed (step 2008: No), the process returns to step 2000. When the execution of all the applications corresponding to the above action flow is completed (step 2008: Yes), the output data of all or some of the applications is provided to the user or a specific recipient selected based on the user message. (Step 2010), the process for the user message is terminated (Step 2020).

  Next, the interpretation of the user message will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a structured user message according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 illustrates an entity structure table of a structured user message according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 illustrates an instruction structure table of a structured user message according to an embodiment of the present invention. . As shown in FIG. 4, the user message i received from the user 1 includes three entities ENTi1, ENTi2 and ENTi3 and one command word COMMi1. The message j includes two entities ENTj1 and ENTj2 and two command words COMMj1 and COMMj2. The user message interpretation module 206 generates an entity structure table and a command structure table from the structured user message. As shown in FIG. 5, the entity structure table identifies and stores the type and data type for each entity included in the user message. For example, the type of entity can be determined based on a semantic cover provided by the user message structuring module 204 and can include name, phone number, date, number of people, and the like. The instruction word structure table identifies the contents of the instruction word and stores the number of each instruction word. By the entity structure table and the command word structure table, it is possible to determine what kind of entity the user message includes and what kind of command word. The interpretation method of the user message is only one example, and those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can clearly recognize that there are various modifications or alternatives. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the fixed message includes both an entity and an instruction word has been described. However, according to another embodiment, there is a fixed message including only the entity, and according to another embodiment, the There can be a fixed message containing only words. The structure of such a regular message is merely a design choice, and the present invention is not limited to a specific configuration.

  Next, the regular message database 510 will be described with reference to FIGS. The fixed message database 510 records the identification information (StpMES01, StpMES02, StpMES03, StpMES04) of the fixed message, the structure of each fixed message, and the action flow satisfying each fixed message. To do. For example, the fixed message StpMES01 has a structure including one instruction word COMM11 and two entities ENT11 and ENT12. The types and types of the entities ENT11 are Kind01 and Type11, respectively, and the types and types of the entities ENT12 are each Kind02. And Type12. If the received user message has the structure as described above (that is, includes the command word COMM11 and the entities ENT11 and ENT12 of the above type and type), the user message corresponds to the fixed message StpMES01. To do. Therefore, the action flow for the user message can be defined as ACT11 + ACT12 + ACT16. As described above, when the user message is interpreted as a standard message, it can be quickly dealt with by reading out the action flow recorded in association with the standard message from the standard message database 510.

  Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will recognize that the standard message database shown in FIG. 7 is only one example, and that there are various modifications and alternatives to this. it can. Note that the regular message database 510 can be built by user or entity, or uniformly for all users. The method and content that should be selected among these can vary depending on the type of business and the content of the business, and can be selected by the system designer considering the convenience of the user and the efficiency of the system. It is. In another embodiment, there may be a plurality of action flows corresponding to one regular message. In such an embodiment, the most suitable action flow can be selected from among a plurality of action flows according to the user's selection or by referring to characteristic information recorded in the characteristic information database 550 described later. .

  FIG. 8 illustrates a regular message database 510 'for an embodiment of a restaurant system. For example, reservation is one of the tasks that are required very frequently and frequently in restaurants, and the essential information for reservation is limited to the reservation date, reservation time, and number of reservations. Requests can be formatted. As shown in the figure, the standard message “new reservation” has a structure including an instruction word “reservation” and entities of date, time, and number of people. For example, if the user message i in FIG. 4 is “2012/07/01, 6 o'clock, reserved for 3 people”, the user message interpretation module 206 uses the command word “reservation” and the date “ 2012/07/01 ”, the time“ 6 o'clock ”, and the number of people“ 3 ”are interpreted as being included, and this is compared with the structure of the fixed message recorded in the fixed message database 510. Accordingly, it can be determined that the user message i corresponds to a fixed message “new reservation”. Accordingly, the action flow recorded in association with the above-mentioned fixed message in the fixed message database 510 ′ is “table inquiry (inquires whether there is a free table that can accommodate the number of people on the date and time when the reservation is requested) + By reading “new reservation registration (recording reservation information) + cell phone message (notifying the recipient of the completion of reservation)”, an action flow for the user message can be easily generated. The above three entities are used as input data of an application executed for executing the action flow. In this case, the word “today” can be interpreted as, for example, the date “2012/07/01” even when the user message is described as “Today 6: 3 reservation”. Of course, it can be processed as a regular message as described above.

  Next, an atypical message process according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11 illustrate an action request synonym database 520, a corresponding work database 530, and a corresponding work-action database 540 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 illustrates one example of a candidate action inventory by component generated for an atypical message. FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of the characteristic information database 550.

  The action request synonym database 520 records one or more synonyms in association with one or more action requests constituting a task requested to be performed by a user message. In this specification, typical command words and words that are often used by a user to indicate work or operations performed by a predetermined application or a part thereof are called action requests. The synonym of the action request is a word that is often used or may be used in practice by the user or in the related industry as the same or similar meaning as the action request. Next, the request response work database 530 records one or more response tasks to be performed in order to satisfy the user's request contained in the user message in association with each of the action requests. In addition, the corresponding work-action database 540 records one or more actions necessary for performing each corresponding work in association with each of the corresponding works. Here, the action requests REQ01, REQ02, REQ03, REQ04 and the action request synonyms SYN11, SYN12, etc. in the action request synonym database 520 are selected by the system designer, system administrator, or user. Yes, it can be entered in advance or in real time when processing atypical messages. The same applies to the corresponding work database 530 and the corresponding work-action database 540.

  Hereinafter, a process of generating the component-specific candidate action list illustrated in FIG. 12 for the user message j (see FIG. 4) which is an atypical message will be described. As illustrated, according to the present embodiment, the user message j includes two entities and two command words. In the above components, it is assumed that ENTj1 and ENTj2 are entities whose meanings are clearly specified. In this case, there is no need to specify an action request for the components ENTj1 and ENTj2. If it is unclear what an entity represents, an action request for it can be specified to clearly define this entity. For example, in the example of a restaurant system, if a user message “Reserve 6: 5 pm today” is entered, “Today”, “6 pm”, and “5 people” in the component are entities. Applicable, “Reservation” corresponds to the command word. If the meaning of “today” is not clear in the entity, the action request synonym database 520 can be referred to in order to clearly specify the date indicated by “today”. For example, an action request “date inquiry” can be specified for the entity. On the other hand, when the user message includes pronouns such as “it” or “that person” and the entity cannot be defined, discourse analysis can be used. For the command word “reserved”, the action request synonym database 520 is referred to and the corresponding action request is specified.

  In order to identify action requests for the two command words COMMj1 and COMMj2 of the user message j, the atypical message processing module 304 refers to the action request synonym database 520. As a result of the reference, it is determined that the instruction word COMMj1 corresponds to the synonyms SYN11 and SYN21. Therefore, the action requests REQ01 and REQ02 are associated with the instruction word COMMj1. Since the command word COMMj2 corresponds to the synonym SYN31, an action request REQ03 is associated with the command word. Thus, by referring to the action request synonym database 520, an action request can be specified for each component of the user message. On the other hand, the action request synonym database 520 is not necessarily used to specify an action request, and an action request and its synonym can be input in real time as described above. In this case, the atypical message processing module 304 can provide an interface to the user or the system administrator so that the user or the system administrator can determine this. Alternatively, the atypical message processing module 304 can determine an action request corresponding to each component of the user message through an Internet search or the like. Alternatively, the atypical message processing module 304 may cause the user to select an action request or transmit a question message to the user for additional explanation.

  Next, the atypical message processing module 304 refers to the corresponding work database 530 in order to select the corresponding work corresponding to each action request specified for each component. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, there are a plurality of corresponding operations corresponding to each of REQ01, REQ02, and REQ03. Among them, the characteristic information database 550 can be referred to in order to select a more suitable corresponding work, or the system administrator or the user can directly select the corresponding work. In this embodiment, corresponding tasks JOB11 and JOB21 are selected for the component COMMj1, and corresponding operations JOB31 are selected for the component COMMj2. On the other hand, in this embodiment, one corresponding work is selected for one action request, but it is also possible to select a plurality of corresponding works.

  Next, the atypical message processing module 304 refers to the corresponding work-action database 540 to select the most suitable action for each of the selected corresponding works. The selection can be performed with reference to the characteristic information database 550, or can be directly selected by a system administrator or a user. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, among the actions recorded corresponding to each of the corresponding work JOB11 and JOB21 selected for the component COMMj1, ACT111 and ACT112, and ACT211 and ACT212 are respectively selected as more suitable actions. . For the component COMMj2, ACT311, ACT312 and ACT313 are selected. In this manner, the component-specific candidate action list shown in FIG. 12 can be generated for the user message j.

  The action request synonym database 520, the corresponding work database 530, the corresponding work-action database 540, and / or the characteristic information database 550 are created, added, or deleted in advance or in real time by the system designer, system administrator, or user. Can be done. Further, all of the above databases should not always be included in the software execution control system 100 of the present invention. In addition, at least a part of the database may be replaced with a real-time designation or input method by a system designer, a system administrator, a user, or the like.

  While the above embodiment used two databases 530 and 540 to investigate actions from action requests, in other embodiments, a single database can be used, namely an action request-action database. That is, by recording the action request and the action in direct correspondence, it is possible to reduce the processes necessary for specifying the action for each action request. Also in this embodiment, the action request-action database can be created, added, or deleted in advance or in real time by a system designer, a system administrator, or a user. The database should not always be included in the software execution control system 100 of the present invention, and can be replaced with a real-time designation or input method by a user, a system designer, a system administrator, or the like.

  Embodiments using two databases to identify actions, namely, the corresponding work database 530 and the corresponding work-action database 540, have increased processing and therefore processing time compared to embodiments using only one database. Can be longer. However, when using the above two databases, there is an advantage that it is highly possible to select an action more suitable for the user's request.

  If the action corresponding to the component cannot be specified, i) it is determined that the user message cannot be processed, and the operation of the software execution control apparatus 100 is terminated according to the embodiment, or ii) this or other in the past. It is also possible to refer to history information on the execution of an application to process the same or similar message, or to use information collected through a web search or the like. The processing method in this case can be selected by the system designer in consideration of user convenience, system efficiency, and the like.

  Next, the characteristic information database 550 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the characteristic information database 550 records various characteristic information for each user in association with weight values of options related to the respective characteristics. In some embodiments, instead of storing a weight value for each option, it is also possible to store only the priority between the options. Weight values or priorities for a plurality of options are set by i) a user, a system administrator, a system designer, or the like, or ii) determined with reference to historical information regarding past atypical message processing, or iii ) Can be determined by the attributes of each option. When selecting options for each characteristic, it is possible to select only the one with the highest weighting value or priority for each option one by one. It is also possible to select. For example, in the former case, one corresponding operation having the highest weight is selected for the action request specified for each component of the atypical message, and the one having the highest weight for the selected corresponding operation is selected. Select one action. In the latter case, multiple actions are selected in descending order of the action corresponding to each corresponding task selected by component, and one or more most suitable among the selected action combinations is selected. Embodiments are possible. Of course, other unions are possible. In particular, it is also possible to obtain the sum or product of the weights of the options included in each association and select one or more associations in descending order of the values.

In the case where the weight value or priority order is determined according to the attribute of the option, a method for determining the weight value or priority order of the application corresponding to one action is as follows, for example.
The attributes listed in Table 1 are only examples, and some or all of the attributes can be used together with different attributes to determine the priority of the application, or completely different attributes can be used. . It is desirable that the reference information operation module 590 collects information related to information change items recorded in the characteristic information database 550 as needed or periodically, and updates the characteristic information database 550 based on the collected information.

The following describes the process of investigating actions from atypical messages through virtual examples in the restaurant sector. For example, it is assumed that a user message “Delay staff meeting at 11:00 am 12:00” is input. After receiving the user message, the user message preprocessing unit 200 structures the received message. The user message component structured by the user message pre-processing unit 200 includes three entities such as “11 am”, “staff meeting”, and “12 o'clock”, and “delay” content. It is classified into one command word that it has. The atypical message processing module 304 refers to the action request synonym database 520, the corresponding work database 530, and the corresponding work-action database 540 in order to investigate the action corresponding to the “delay” command word component. Then, the action most suitable for the command word “delay” is selected. The action request, the corresponding work and the action selected for the command word are exemplified in the following Table 2.

That is, according to the example in Table 2 above, three types of actions such as “change for a certain time”, “contact by e-mail” and “contact by mobile phone message” are selected for the command word “delay”. Can be done. All three types of actions selected in this way can be executed sequentially or in parallel. According to another embodiment of the present invention, only one action for the user message is determined by selecting the action with the highest weight among the selected actions with reference to the characteristic information database 550. You can also Alternatively, it is also possible to select two actions by selecting one action with a high weight value for each corresponding work. For example, an action flow of (schedule time change + email) or (schedule time change + cell phone message) can be generated for the component “delay”.

  Next, a method for generating an atypical message action flow will be described with reference to FIG. The atypical message processing module 304 generates an action flow that combines actions corresponding to respective components in the candidate action list for each component in FIG. When a plurality of actions investigated for COMMj1 and each action investigated for COMMj2 are combined, a plurality of action flow candidate lists are generated as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, there are a total of 12 action flow candidates. In order to select a more suitable action flow among these, the embodiment of FIG. 14 multiplies the weights of the actions constituting the action flow to obtain the two action flows P1 having the highest product of the weight values. Select P2. In another embodiment, one action flow composed of actions having the highest weight or priority is selected. In another embodiment, an action is selected for each of the two corresponding tasks specified for the component COMMj1, and the two selected actions are combined with an action selected for the COMMj2 (for example, ACT111 + ACT211 + ACT311). It is also possible to sort action flows. Action flows generated in this way are stored in cache memory, buffers, queues, etc. for each user or in the order in which they were generated, and processed in the order in which they were stored, or urgent action flows first. It is processed. Of course, it can also be processed in other orders.

  Next, the action-app database 560 according to an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 15 will be described. The action-application database 560 records the identification information of each action in association with the identification information of the application necessary for performing the action. The identification information of the application includes folder information where each application is stored or location information such as a URL. The application selection module 402 refers to the action-application database 560 to determine an application for each action constituting the action flow. When a plurality of applications correspond to one action, it is possible to select an application by referring to the characteristic information database 550 or to select it by a system designer, a system administrator, a user, or the like. is there. The reference information operation module 590 adds, changes, or deletes actions recorded in the action-app database 560. For example, a new action is added to the action-app database 560 if a new action that was not anticipated at the time of system design is required. For this purpose, a system designer, system administrator, application developer, or a user with appropriate authority directly inputs a new action and application identification information, which is identification information about the application necessary to accomplish this. An interface can be provided. When a new action is added, the reference information operation module 590 searches for an application necessary for performing the new action, and records the searched application identification information in the action-application database 560.

  With reference to FIG. 16, a method for identifying an application necessary for performing an action constituting an action flow will be described. In the example of FIG. 16, the action flow F1 of the user 1 includes actions ACT21 and ACT24. The application selection module 402 refers to the action-application database 560 in order to determine an application corresponding to the ACT 21 first. Since there are a plurality of applications corresponding to the ACT 21, the APP 211 having the highest weight value among the APPs 211, APP 212, and APP 213 corresponding to the action ACT 21 is selected from the characteristic information database 550 a of the user 1. The application APP 242 is selected in the same manner for the action ACT 24. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the application selection module 402 searches the storage device 106 in the software execution control device 100 or an external server (150a and 150b in FIG. 1) for applications required for each action. Can be selected. This is to cope with a case where information of an application corresponding to a specific action does not exist in the action-application database 560, or a case where the information of the application exists in the action-application database 560 but its validity is not certain. Can be carried out. When a new application necessary for performing a specific action is searched, it is desirable to cause the reference information operation module 590 to add the new application identification information to the action-application database 560.

  Next, the operation of the application execution control module 404 will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. The application execution control module 404 can refer to the application procedure database 570 illustrated in FIG. 17 to control the execution of the application. That is, the application execution control module 404 extracts information related to the procedure of the application to be executed from the application procedure database 570, and generates a control signal necessary for executing the application with reference to this. For example, the procedure of APP211 which is a contact management application is specified as user authentication (authentication), name input (input name), phone number search (Phone_no search), and output of searched phone number (output Phone_no). . When the APP execution control module 404 is to execute the APP 211, the application execution control module 404 generates a control signal necessary for the procedure and provides it to the APP 211. In addition, the application execution control module 404 confirms the type and format of input data of each application to be executed. For this reason, as described above, it is desirable to construct in advance the application execution information database 580 that records the type and format of input data for each application. FIG. 18 shows an embodiment of the application execution information database 580. If the type and format of data to be input to the application match the input data type and format of the application, the data can be input to the application as it is to execute the application. If the type and format of data to be input to the application do not match the input data type and format of the application, the data type and format are converted to match the input data type and format of the application.

  An entity included in the user message can be provided as input data to the application to be executed. Alternatively, output data of another application executed previously may be provided as input data of the application. In this case, it is necessary to convert the output data of the previously executed application in accordance with the data type and format required by the application.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, the application execution control module 404 is more suitable to execute the application selected by the application selection module 402 as it is or to change the application as it is. If it is determined, the application can be corrected and executed. For example, the number, type or format of data required to run a particular application, the number, type or format of data produced as a result of running the application, or part of a procedure included in the application Alternatively, all can be modified.

  The application procedure database 570 and the application execution information database 580 can be constructed or updated in advance and / or in real time by a system designer, a system administrator, and / or a user. Therefore, the reference information operation module 590 can generate and provide a necessary user interface. The reference information operation module 590 can also classify information collected from inside or outside the software execution control system 100 as needed or periodically, and record this information in the application procedure database 570 and the application execution information database 580.

  Next, the relationship between input and output data between applications in an application execution process according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, input data of an application to be executed may be output data of another application executed earlier than that. As shown on the left side of FIG. 18, if the applications APP 311 and APP 211 to be executed for the user message k are specified by the application selection module 402, the application execution control module 404 first executes the APP 311. For this purpose, input data in01 and in02 of the type and format defined in APP311 are input. In addition, when the execution of the APP 311 is completed, the APP 211 is executed. As illustrated, output data of the application APP 311 is provided as input data of the application APP 211. In this case, the application execution control module 404 matches the type and format of the output data out01 of the APP 311 with the type and format of the input data of the APP 211. Here, the field name of the input data of APP 211 and the field name of the output data of APP 311 can be different from each other. The output data out01 of APP311 converted according to the type and format of the input data of APP211 is provided to APP211 as input data. The application execution control module 404 controls the execution of the APP 311 and APP 211 by generating control signals for the APP 311 and APP 211 with reference to the application procedure database 570.

  The interrelationship between applications as described above can be constructed and used as a database. As in the above example, when output data of a specific application and input data of a different application are related to each other, if this information is recorded in advance in the database, execution control of the application becomes very easy. It is also desirable to construct in advance as a database information indicating that there is data that must be shared by two or more applications. For example, in the restaurant system example described above, it is desirable that the sales management application share the sales data held by the cash register application. As a result, the sales data does not need to be stored redundantly in the memory, so that the memory storage space can be saved.

  The components 200 to 500 of the software execution control apparatus 100 of the present invention and the configurations of the modules included in each of the components can be different from those of the above-described embodiment. For example, the modules 202 to 206 included in the user message pre-processing unit 200 can be configured as an independent unit, or the modules 202 to 206 can be integrated as one module. it can. Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will recognize that there are other variations and alternatives.

  As described above, the present invention has been described through the embodiments of the software execution control device and the software execution control method. However, the technical idea of the present invention can also be embodied as a computer-readable recording medium on which a software execution control program is recorded. . The software execution control program includes a user message pre-processing unit that interprets and interprets a user message received from a user, a message processing unit that generates an action flow from components extracted from the user message, An application for performing an action constituting the action flow is selected and operated as an application execution unit that controls execution of the selected application and a reference information management unit that constructs and operates various databases. Since the operation of the software execution control program of the present invention corresponds to each stage of the software execution control method described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  In the following, another embodiment of the present invention applied to restaurant reservation and order management will be described. FIG. 19 conceptually illustrates a restaurant reservation and order management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The restaurant software execution control device 3010 includes a user message preprocessing unit, a user message processing unit, an application execution unit, and a reference information management unit (not shown), each of which is shown in FIG. This corresponds to the user message preprocessing unit 200, the user message processing unit 300, the application execution unit 400, and the reference information management unit 500 of the embodiment. Therefore, the detailed description regarding these structures is abbreviate | omitted. A restaurant software execution control device 3010 such as a POS terminal, a personal computer, or a tablet receives a user message requesting a reservation from a store owner or a customer in the form of a mobile phone message or an e-mail. If the customer sends a mobile phone message or e-mail requesting a reservation to the store owner, the information may be automatically transmitted to the restaurant software execution control device 3010.

  The mobile phone message or the e-mail is a standard message or an atypical message. When the user message is received, the restaurant software execution control device 3010 structures the user message and determines whether it is a regular message. If the user message is a fixed message, the fixed message processing module 302 reads and generates an action flow corresponding to the message with reference to the fixed message database 510. If the user message is an atypical message, the atypical message processing module 304 refers to the action request synonym database 520 to select an action request corresponding to the message, and performs the corresponding work. Corresponding work corresponding to each action request selected with reference to the database 530 is designated, and an adapted action flow is generated with reference to the corresponding work-action database 540. Next, the application selection module 402 selects a suitable application for the action flow thus generated, and the application execution control module 404 includes the action-application database 560, the application procedure database 570, and application execution information. The selected application is executed with reference to all or part of the database 580.

  In a specific example, a table is reserved based on information such as a reservation date, a reservation time, and the number of people included in the above-mentioned receiver message, and the customer often orders food and drinks based on customer identification information including a customer name. After the information is read from the characteristic information database 550 and the stock of the food and drink is confirmed based on the read information, if there is no stock, a purchase request is made. If the customer name is not included in the user message, the customer name can be inquired of the store owner.

  Next, an embodiment for processing an order request will be described. As illustrated, the restaurant reservation and order management system 3000 includes a restaurant software execution control device 3010, one or more customer tablets 3020, and one or more kitchen tablets that are connected by wire or wirelessly. 3030 and one or more staff tablets (not shown). When there are a plurality of customer tablets 3020, kitchen tablets 3030, or staff tablets (not shown), each is distinguished by unique identification information. The restaurant software execution control device 3010 includes an order information management application, a waiting time calculation application, and the like. Can. The customer tablet 3020 arranged on each table in the sales floor includes an order request application, an order information display application, and the like. The kitchen tablet 3030 disposed in the kitchen includes a cooking process management application and the like. The application may be stored in the restaurant software execution control device 3010, the customer tablet 3020, or the kitchen tablet 3030, or may be stored in an external server. Note that the application can also be a web service.

  For example, if a user message including order information, table identification information, customer identification information, etc. is input from each of a plurality of customer tablets 3020 connected to the restaurant software execution control device 3010 of the present invention, the software The execution control device 3010 generates an action flow corresponding to the user message through the above process, and executes the selected application. Each tablet 3020 for a customer includes a display and an input unit for receiving order information, and displays a menu item to be serviced and an order request icon on the display. When the customer selects an item to order from the menu items displayed on the customer tablet 3020 arranged on the table and clicks or touches the order icon, the input unit receives this information. Menu item selection and order request can be input through a mouse or a touchpad, and can be in the form of voice commands. In addition, the order request application obtains customer identification information by receiving a name from the customer, or obtains customer identification information by referring to the reservation information when the customer makes a reservation in advance. . The order request application transmits the identification information of the customer tablet 3020, the information about the menu item received by the input unit, and the customer identification information to the restaurant software execution control device 3010. The restaurant software execution control device 3010 receives, as user messages, data such as the order content, unique identification information of the customer tablet 3020, selected menu items, customer identification information, and the like.

  Based on the customer identification information, the restaurant software execution control device 3010 reads the food tendency (for example, fast serving, sequentially serving, generous serving, etc.) and preferred taste (for example, salty, normal, Information such as watery). If customer information has not been saved, ask the store manager or responsible waiter to consult with the customer and then enter the relevant information using a tablet for staff (not shown) installed at the counter or elsewhere be able to. The restaurant software execution control device 3010 determines the cooking order of the menu items ordered from the plurality of customer tablets 3020 based on the read information and transmits the determined order to the kitchen tablet 3030. For example, the cooking order can be adjusted so that dishes ordered by customers who prefer early serving are cooked ahead of dishes ordered by customers who prefer surplus serving. The kitchen tablet 3030 divides the cooking process of the ordered menu item into predetermined stages, and inputs information indicating what stage has been entered depending on the actual cooking progress, and this information is executed by the restaurant software. It transmits to the control apparatus 3010. The restaurant software execution control device 3010 transmits the cooking standby time or cooking completion information to the customer tablet 3020 so that the customer can view it.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, the functions executed in the above-described embodiments may be combined as appropriate as possible. The above-described embodiment includes various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by an appropriate combination of a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, if the effect is obtained, a configuration from which the constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

Claims (16)

In a software execution control device that controls execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user,
A reference information management unit that collects and updates reference information referred to for execution of a plurality of applications;
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. A user message preprocessor to interpret;
A message processing unit that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message;
Based on the reference information managed by the reference information management unit and the action specified by the message processing unit, the application to be executed to perform each of the specified actions is selected, and the selection is performed. only contains the application executing unit for executing an application that is, the,
The reference information management unit records characteristic information in which one or more characteristics for each user are associated with information selected from a set of priorities and weights of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
The message processing unit identifies one or more actions corresponding to the user message with reference to the characteristic information database;
A software execution control device. In a software execution control device that controls execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user,
A reference information management unit that collects and updates reference information referred to for execution of a plurality of applications;
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. A user message preprocessor to interpret;
A message processing unit that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message;
Based on the reference information managed by the reference information management unit and the action specified by the message processing unit, the application to be executed to perform each of the specified actions is selected, and the selection is performed. An application execution unit that executes the executed application,
The reference information management unit records characteristic information in which one or more characteristics for each user are associated with information selected from a set of priorities and weights of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
The application execution unit selects the application with reference to the characteristic information database.
A software execution control device. The user message preprocessing unit
A user message receiving module for receiving a user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method;
Extracting one or more components from the received user message, each of the components being a command word or entity, a user message structuring module;
A user message interpretation module that determines whether the user message is a regular message based on the extracted one or more components;
The message processor identifies an action based on one or more components extracted by the user message preprocessor;
The software execution control device according to claim 1. The message processing unit
A regular message processing module that identifies one or more actions from a regular user message interpreted as a regular message;
The software execution control device according to claim 3, further comprising: an atypical message processing module that identifies one or more actions from an atypical user message that is interpreted as not being a regular message. The reference information management unit
Information about the structure of one or more regular messages, and an action flow that defines the execution timing of one or more actions corresponding to each of the regular messages, and the one or more regular messages. Build and operate a standard message database that is recorded in association with the message,
The above user message interpretation module
One or more information selected from the group including the content and number of command words extracted by the user message structuring module, and the type and type of entity, and information recorded in the regular message database. Based on this, it is determined whether the user message is a regular message,
The regular message processing module
If the user message interpretation module determines that the user message is a regular message, the action flow recorded in association with the regular message is read from the regular message database.
The software execution control device according to claim 4 . The reference information management unit
An action request synonym database in which one or more synonyms are recorded in association with one or more action requests constituting a task requested to be performed by the user message;
A corresponding work database that records one or more corresponding tasks to be performed to satisfy each of the action requests in association with each of the action requests;
Build and operate a corresponding work-action database in which one or more actions necessary for the execution of each corresponding work are recorded in association with each of the corresponding works.
The atypical message processing module is
One or more corresponding to the entity or command extracted from the user message with reference to one or more of the action request synonym database, the corresponding work database and the corresponding work-action database Specify the above actions and specify the execution timing of the specified actions.
The software execution control device according to claim 4 . The reference information management unit
An action request synonym database in which one or more synonyms are recorded in association with one or more action requests constituting a task requested to be performed by the user message;
Build and operate an action request-action database that records one or more actions that satisfy each of the action requests in association with each of the action requests;
The atypical message processing module is
Identify one or more actions corresponding to an entity or command extracted from the user message with reference to one or more of the action request synonym database and the action request-action database. And specify the execution timing of the identified action.
The software execution control device according to claim 4 . The above application execution unit
Changing the type or format of data to be input to the application based on information about the type and format of the input data of the application to be executed;
The software execution control device according to claim 1. The software execution control device according to claim 1, wherein the application execution unit generates a control signal for controlling execution of the application based on information on a procedure of the application to be executed. The above application execution unit
A part or all of the output data of the application selected for the user message is combined to generate one or more outputs to be provided to the user or a predetermined recipient based on the user message. An output generation module;
The software execution control device according to claim 1. The atypical message processing module is
If there are a plurality of actions corresponding to any one of the action requests, generate a combination of the plurality of actions corresponding to the action request, and select one or more of the combinations.
The software execution control apparatus according to claim 6 or 7 . The reference information management unit
Build and operate a characteristic information database that records the characteristics for each user and the weight value information of multiple options for each characteristic.
The atypical message processing module is
Referring to the characteristic information database, performing the screening based on a value selected from a calculation result selected from a set composed of a sum and a product of weights of actions constituting each of the combinations;
The software execution control device according to claim 11 . In a software execution control method for controlling execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user using a software execution control device,
A reference information management stage that collects and updates reference information that is referenced for execution of multiple applications;
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. A user message preprocessing stage to interpret;
A message processing stage that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message;
Based on the reference information and the action specified in the message processing stage, the application execution for selecting the application to be executed to perform the specified action and executing the selected application is executed. and the stage, only including,
In the reference information management step, characteristic information is recorded in association with one or more characteristics for each user and information selected from a set composed of priority and weight values of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
The message processing step specifies one or more actions corresponding to the user message with reference to the characteristic information database.
And a software execution control method. In a software execution control method for controlling execution of a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user using a software execution control device,
A reference information management stage that collects and updates reference information that is referenced for execution of multiple applications;
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. A user message preprocessing stage to interpret;
A message processing stage that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message;
Based on the reference information and the action specified in the message processing stage, the application execution for selecting the application to be executed to perform the specified action and executing the selected application is executed. And including stages,
In the reference information management step, characteristic information is recorded in association with one or more characteristics for each user and information selected from a set composed of priority and weight values of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
In the application execution stage, the application is selected with reference to the characteristic information database.
And a software execution control method. In a program for controlling a computer to execute a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user,
The above computer
Reference information management unit that collects and updates reference information that is referenced for execution of multiple applications,
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. User message preprocessor to interpret,
A message processing unit that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message; reference information managed by the reference information management unit; and the message processing A program for selecting an application to be executed in order to perform each of the specified actions based on the action specified by the unit, and causing the application to function as an application execution unit that executes the selected application. There,
The reference information management unit records characteristic information in which one or more characteristics for each user are associated with information selected from a set of priorities and weights of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
The message processing unit identifies one or more actions corresponding to the user message with reference to the characteristic information database;
A program characterized by that. In a program for controlling a computer to execute a plurality of applications based on a user message received from a user,
The above computer
Reference information management unit that collects and updates reference information that is referenced for execution of multiple applications,
A user message input or transmitted from a user by a predetermined method is received, one or more components are extracted from the received user message, and the user message is extracted based on the extracted component. User message preprocessor to interpret,
A message processing unit that identifies one or more actions requested by the user based on matters interpreted from the user message; and
Based on the reference information managed by the reference information management unit and the action specified by the message processing unit, the application to be executed to perform each of the specified actions is selected, and the selection is performed. Application execution unit that executes the registered application
Is a program for functioning as
The reference information management unit records characteristic information in which one or more characteristics for each user are associated with information selected from a set of priorities and weights of a plurality of options for each characteristic. Build and operate a database
The application execution unit selects the application with reference to the characteristic information database.
A program characterized by that.